A US judge, ruled she ‘must dismiss’ a suit against the Sri Lankan President over allegations of killings by his country’s armed forces as the American administration has decided that he is immune from litigation as a foreign head of state.
"The court does not take this step lightly," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her ruling dismissing the case against President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"The plaintiffs' complaint contains shocking allegations of human rights abuses and violations of United States and international law," she said.
"The court's dismissal of this case is in no way a reflection of the merits of plaintiffs' claims or defendant's defenses. Rather, two centuries of case law and basic constitutional and statutory principles prevent this court from allowing plaintiffs' complaint to move forward at this time."
The suit was brought by the parents of humanitarian workers and civilians killed by Sri Lankan forces during the course of the last few years.
The father of a medical student shot dead with four friends while relaxing on a beach, the wife of a humanitarian worker executed with seventeen colleagues and the relatives of a family killed in the no-fire zone in the last stages of the war were among the plaintiffs.
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